The Crystal in the Chasm

chapter 35

Dizzily stumbling into my dead parents' bedroom, I pawed through the dark until I collided with the familiar wooden doors of the former king's dresser. Just the thought of a king, or any ruler for that matter, made me convulse with nausea. My kingdom would fall. I could not protect it powerless. I could not rule it powerless. It would be like painting a target on my own back and then walking into a sword willingly. Many would come for the head of a defenseless queen. A whimper escaped my throat when I reached for powers to soothe me that were not there. It was so odd to become so ordinary in one night after a life of feeling like a legend. Perhaps that's what my story would be all along. Simply a legend, nothing tangible about it. Perhaps I could disappear. Flea to the human lands and live out my dreadfully pathetic eternal existence in a land that would deem me an equal. Yet, I could not shield my faerie traits without magic... Even pretending to be human didn't seem to be an option.

I snatched a cloak from the dresser and fastened it around my neck, pulling the hood over my colorless eyes. The rest of the night would be dreadful. I just had to make it through one step at a time. I just had to find Death Bringer. He was the only person I trusted with my life. The only person I trusted to see me in such a state; bloodied, bruised, traumatized, and weak. He would help me find refuge. I had nothing left to fight for in the coming war. I had nothing left to fight with.

The castle corridors were as familiar as the back of my hand. Most were asleep at this late hour in the night. It had surprised me when I found Death Bringer's room void of his sleeping presence. He was elsewhere and that explained why he had not heard the struggle only across the hall. That was why he had not saved me. I sobbed occasionally, unable to fight the emotions brewing over the surface. There were moments where I considered walking straight out of a window and plummeting to my death. If I trusted I would not wake back up, I might've tried it. I knew fate had other plans in mind for me, and even death would be a gift I wouldn't yet receive.

I stumbled through the darkness for an eternity, bleeding out in small droplets at the base of my cloak. I clung the fabric close to my skin, some of the cloak knotted into my trembling hands. It seemed even my healing abilities had been weakened. The pain covered my entire body, distracting me and dulling my senses.

"Where are you?" I whispered to myself as I stumbled barefoot and practically naked beneath my cloak through the eerily empty halls, the quiet like a ghost lurking over my shoulder.

As if in response, the crystal ball hummed in the cloak pocket. I held it up to the light of the moon shining through a window and took in the work of magic within. A hazy picture of Death Bringer drinking in the garden alone flashed through the glass, warping with the occasional swirl of smoke. I both despised and marveled at the crystal ball that had eaten away my magic like a black hole. There would be no retrieving it. Whatever magic was sucked into these balls dissolved into a streaming current of endless magic within, molding it back to its original form until it no longer identified as one singular power. My magic was back in the palms of the universe, far out of my reach.

It was easy enough to evade the meandering pirates that wandered the castle halls. I knew every nook and cranny to hide in, every secret passage to use when backed into a corner. I snuck through the castle, my feet light as a mouse. The blood trail would be something I'd worry about later. I was moving quickly enough and walking through hidden entrances enough that the trail wouldn't lead right to me but would end abruptly in various locations. I couldn't face any of the pirates. Hawk's body could be discovered at any moment, painting me as a traitor. Captain Silver Tongue would easily have my head for taking his lap dog from him.

I was no longer a pirate. I was no longer a princess. I was no longer a queen. I was not myself. She had died in that room beneath the body of her assailant, her dignity with her. He was going to... I couldn't even think the words as I gagged. He didn't get away with it. That was all that really mattered. He might've taken my magic but he did not take my soul. Though it felt fragmented like the broken vase that had fallen to wake me.